Technology

Business Uses for IPTV on the Rise

Get ready for IPTV in McDonaldâ€™s, hotels and other business settings.

David Cotriss

Since IPTV is generally considered a consumer offering, its potential business applications often go unnoticed. However, there is a growing trend toward IPTV use for purposes such as employee training, corporate communications and even retail applications. For example, broadband solutions provider Broadcast International Inc. just announced plans to implement a private IPTV network in 335 McDonald’s locations in Italy to provide customers with unique video content, including live news, sports, weather and prerecorded commercials. In May 2007, The Vistana, an upscale apartment complex in San Antonio, implemented AT&T’s U-verse service as a way to attract quality tenants. Uses such as these will only continue to expand as IPTV deployments increase.

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Richard Broughton, an analyst at Screen Digest, sees other business applications as more likely to spread in the near future. “One of the big potential uses for IPTV is in the hotel and hospitality markets,” said Broughton. “One or two on-demand servers can provide all the films and entertainment for the building. We've seen examples of IPTV in residential-care homes in Scandinavia, in hospitals in France and hotels in the U.S., so there are a variety of solutions already deployed." Broughton continued, "One of the advantages that businesses have in using IPTV is that scaling isn't an issue. The hotel might have 1,000 rooms but will still need only one management server, so it's fairly cheap to install and run. Furthermore, the business can take advantage of internal phone lines — major rebuilding to put cabling in isn't generally necessary.” A specific example of IPTV use in the business workd is found in Sweden, where residents in an apartment complex can call their doctors and hospitals using their TV sets for an instant diagnosis, saving patients and health clinics time and money.

IPTV Vs. Internet

An obvious question is why a business would choose to use IPTV instead of the Internet, which is often used for applications such as video conferencing, not to mention content delivery. As Broughton explained, “IPTV can provide better security (particularly if you are using a dedicated network for it), higher bandwidth, higher quality and interruption-free connections [versus] Web-based TV. However, on the flip side, it is likely to be much more expensive and limited in its use (again, particularly if you have a dedicated network). Government bodies in a number of countries are adopting IPTV for internal use, and while this allows for superior internal video conferencing, externally, the organization will still have to go via the traditional route.”

While the future market for business IPTV services may be somewhat lucrative, telcos aren’t ready to jump in just yet. “So far, the telcos aren't going after this market, as they don't have the content (or often the technology),” Broughton explained. “Typically, it has been specialists or the bigger pay-TV operators which have taken advantage of the field. Technology vendors have also seen the advantage in the market and are pushing solutions — Amino and Dreampark have been active in advertising their products to businesses. However, as telcos make their presence felt in the TV space, and also considering that businesses have to get their high-speed Internet connections from them, it seems unlikely that we won't see them making further forays,” he said.

Indeed, convincing businesses to use IPTV instead of the Internet or standard TV will be a major challenge, but growth will likely occur given the potential benefits. It may be a while before the doctor is beamed to your living room or you can watch the basketball game at your favorite fast-food restaurant, but it’s coming.

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